Friday, July 31, 2009

Martien Moulder's From Blue to Blue



Martien Mulder
From Blue to Blue

Capricious Space
Williamsburg / Greenpoint / Bushwick
103 Broadway, 917-438-7015
July 9 - August 9, 2009

From the press release:

Capricious Space is proud to present FROM BLUE TO BLUE, a selection of images extracted from 10 years of personal work by Martien Mulder. With a focus on landscape and portraiture, this particular edit is based on the monochromatic quality of each photograph. The primary color in every image determines its place in the space. Even though the images have their own individual meaning on the level of representation, they are sorted by their formal values. Mulder treats them as colors in a color scheme while designing within the graphic space: whether it is the pages of a book, or a gallery. Her installations are site specific.

Dutch-born Martien Mulder discovered her love for photography as a teenager. Her first pictures date from her high school years, when friends would pose willingly in her homemade studio. After her art history studies, with a major in contemporary photography, she decided to take her own pictures more seriously. By composing handmade books of her photographs, she established a visual language that connected to the magazine world. She started traveling the world, wherever assignments would lead her, and created personal work at the same time. Mulder has always been interested in the relationship between people and their environment.

She currently lives in New York and her pictures have appeared in magazines such as Purple, 10 Magazine, French Vogue and Fantastic Man. She has had exhibitions staged in New York, Amsterdam and Tokyo. Her book, also titled “From Blue to Blue” will be available for purchase.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

A Conversation with Hiroyo Kaneko

Sentimental Education #08, © Hiroyo Kaneko
Sentimental Education #11, © Hiroyo Kaneko

I think the first time I came across Hiroyo Kaneko's photography was through Shane Lavalette's Issue 01 of the Lay Flat project. Her "Sentimental Education" series brought me the calmness and trust that I yearn for within family, skin, and touch. I remember going to Japan with my mother when I was 17, for a touristy week trip with a busload of strangers and we refused going to the hot-springs because we never grew up comfortable with our own skin. Hiroyo's photography connects me back to my own memories with emotions and scenes that have far been pushed to the back of my consciousness.

Nymphoto: Tell us a little about yourself?

Hiroyo Kaneko: I was born in Aomori city, a northernmost area of the main island of Japan. As my family moved every few years because of my father's occupation, I spent my childhood in several different places, both the countryside and in the cities.

Experiencing thrills, loneliness and some troubles, I gained a kind of objective or detached view to look at things, people and myself, which has influenced my work and life.

I studied French Literature at Meiji Gakuin University in Tokyo and after working in an advertising office for a couple of years, I went to London to study photography. I attended an art school and got a diploma in photography, then went back to Tokyo, started working as a freelance photographer and writer for culture and photography magazines. At the same time, I kept working on my own photo projects. This was from mid-1990s to the turn of the 21st century.

The more chances to participate in exhibitions, the more I became interested in focusing on art photography for myself. I decided to go to the United States to pursue photography further. I went to the graduate program at San Francisco Art Institute 2003 to 2005. Since then I have been living in San Francisco.

Sentimental Education #03, © Hiroyo Kaneko
Sentimental Education #29, © Hiroyo Kaneko

NP: How did you discover photography?

HK: My father use to take family snapshots a lot when I was a child. I remember that we always enjoyed looking at the pictures he took. He had a manual Pentax SLR, which he gave me later.

When I was in the college, I took some classes about visual arts and film, because the period that I was studying within French Literature was early to mid 20th century, a time when all the cultural movements interacted with each other. I was interested in the relationship between writers, visual artists and filmmakers, such as Andre Breton, Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp and Luis Bunuel.

I was also into French New Wave films, especially Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut as well as Japanese film makers, like Yasujiro Ozu, Mikio Naruse and Seijun Suzuki. All those visual experiences got me involved in a filmmaking circle and made a few 8mm films with my peers. However, after we graduated it became difficult to get together to continue the activity, and then I gradually shifted to photography which I could do on my own.

Sentimental Education #26, © Hiroyo Kaneko

NP: Where do you find inspiration?

HK: I get inspiration when something I see at present corresponds with my memories in my head, including the memories of other artists' work: novels, movies, paintings and photographs.

I am influenced by painting a lot, especially by French impressionists like Manet and Cezanne (also Renoir and Bonnard too). They inspire me with how I should deal with the natural light and color that are reflected from the subjects. For the way of seeing the relationship between people and family, I also learn a lot from movies by directors such as Mikiko Naruse, Yasujiro Ozu, Howard Hawks, Ingmar Bergman, Manoel de Oliveira, as well as others.

Picnic #01, © Hiroyo Kaneko
Picnic #18, © Hiroyo Kaneko

NP: How do your projects come about?

HK: From my personal experiences, relationships, concerns, which have been piled up in my mind and have kept coming back to my conscious. I try to find a way to sublime those issues into art even though they are not necessarily expressed directly.

For example, the idea of "Sentimental Education" came from my experience in the US. For the first couple of years after I moved here, I had severe difficulty communicating with others. This didn't mean that the people in the US are more severe than people in Japan. I guess that any community in contemporary society should be same more or less, even within families. But for me, it was more obvious here because I was a stranger, had a language barrier, and faced cultural differences, etc. However, I also became more grateful and found it precious when I saw mutual respect or understanding among people. Thus, I got interested in seeing how our ordinary daily experiences (rituals) affect the ways we communicate with each other and how we interact emotionally with each other.

Rather than showing negative aspects of this , I wanted to show something more neutral and fundamental. Then I came up with the idea of photographing people in bathhouses in Japan which seemed to me an ideal setting for my purpose.

The cherry blossom pictures, "Picnic," stem from a similar idea. I photographed them in Aomori where I was born and spent my childhood. I was interested in reviewing and recreating my early experience which, I guess, helped to create my emotional makeup.

Picnic #17, © Hiroyo Kaneko
Picnic #04, © Hiroyo Kaneko

NP: What’s next?

HK: I am currently working on portraits of my boyfriend and his friends who are American blue-collar workers, who belong to the Teamsters organization.

Also, I want to continue the work for "Picnics", I plan to go back to the same place in different seasons.

Picnic #24, © Hiroyo Kaneko


NP: Thank you so much, Hiroyo!

To see more of her work, head to www.hiroyokaneko.com.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Book Release: Issue 4 of The Exposure Project!

Cover of Issue 4 of The Exposure Project Book
© Rona Chang, from the series The Hold Over Water

Issue 4 of the anticipated The Exposure Project book is finally available for purchase! The book is offered in both regular and special editions. We're proud to have our own, Rona Chang, participate in this project with a great roster of artists.

You can find the edition details below:

The Exposure Project Book - Issue 4


Includes photographs by Chris Bentley, Rona Chang, Daniel Farnum, Elizabeth Fleming, Lee Gainer, Matthew Genitempo, Inka Lindergård & Niclas Holmström, Natascha Libbert, Bradley Peters, Carlo Van de Roer, Daniel Shea, Manuel Vazquez, Jens Windolf, Susan Worsham and Bahar Yurukoglu

With an essay by Brian Ulrich, "Myths and Realities, Photography Moves Into the 21st Century"

Regular Edition
70 pages, Softcover
Edition of 100
8 x 10 in.
$45

Special Edition
70 pages, Hardcover
Edition of 25
8 x 10 in.
$100

The special edition also includes two signed and numbered 8.5 x 11 prints.

Download a preview of the work inside the book.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Amy Stein Artist Talk


© Amy Stein

Amy Stein: Domesticated
Blue Sky Gallery
122 NW 8th Ave
Portland, OR
-through Aug 2.

Artist talk Saturday, Aug 1, at 3 pm. Free.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Hasselblad Awards


©Nina Berman

Head over to www.hasselblad.com to vote for your favorite photographers.
Here are a list of some of the outstanding women photographers nominated:

Agnieszka Rayss
Lea Golda Holterman
Monica Lleo Casanova
Nina Berman
Nancy Coste
Lenette Newell
Lisa Saad
Amber Gray
Carmen Spitznagel

You can revisit our interview with Nina Berman, by clicking here.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

If You Are in Berlin, Germany

Lea Golda Holterman
Orthodox Eros
The body is a temple

@

Dada Post
Nordbahnstr. 10, 13409 Berlin
Germany
Phone: 030.51060224
www.dadapost.com
-through July 31, 2009

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Sam Taylor-Wood

re-visit the work of artist/photographer Sam Taylor-Wood in this video by WVIZ/PBS titled "Brief Applause: Artist Sam Taylor Wood":



courtesy WVIZ/PBS

Friday, July 24, 2009

Lillian Birnbaum @ Andrea Meislin Gallery

The images from Lillian Birnbaum's 2008 book, Transition are on currently on view at Andrea Meislin Gallery in NYC. The series, shot over 5 years, depicts girls in the pivotal period between childhood and womanhood.

Transition
Andrea Meislin Gallery
June 18 - August 14, 2009

Opening Today in Milwaukee: Susana Raab - Rank Strangers




click to enlarge -courtesy Susana Raab

Find out more about this exhibit by the formidable Susana Raab by visiting www.deanjensengallery.com. And re-visit our conversation with Susana by clicking here.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

A Conversation with Naomi Harris

Cover of America Swings by Naomi Harris


This week we bring you a photographer with a diverse array of projects. Naomi Harris is a documentary photographer as well as an editorial photographer. She has published a book titled, America Swings, with Taschen.

I first came across Naomi's work via a press release by Taschen about her book release. Intrigued with her series, America Swings, I felt it was necessary for viewers to see a selection of her editorial and documentary projects with her voice.

Norwood Young/Star of Bravo's "High Maintenance 90210"/Los Angeles, CA/June 2005/Shot for Marie Claire UK, © Naomi Harris
Vanessa Eating St.Hubert's Chicken/Montreal, Canada/September 2003/Shot for Toro Magazine, © Naomi Harris
Clare and Daughter Ronda at the Rascal House/Miami Beach, FL/March 2002/Shot for Heeb Magazine, © Naomi Harris

Nymphoto: Tell us a little about yourself?

Naomi Harris: I am the youngest child born to Jerry and Diane Harris in Toronto, May 1973. Although I got my green card in November 2006, I am devout Canadian, and you can see that by opening my fridge and seeing the forbidden contraband Bicks pickles I smuggle from north of the border. That and the fact that I love camping, SCTV and Gordon Lightfoot.

I wish I could have a cat but I travel too much. I don’t even have a house plant because that would die. I did have a rescue turtle for about a year but that was more out of guilt. I found him abandoned by my super in my lobby last winter but after a year I too abandoned him, but in the safety of a Petco.

I’m a girl not a woman. You know the type: never wears makeup, loves jeans and trainers, has a tendency to be vulgar and doesn’t eat like a bird. Food is my passion. And I don’t mean cooking, just the consuming part.

Dr. Albert Hoffman, 100 year old Inventor of LSD/With wife of 71 years, Anita/Switzerland/June 2006, © Naomi Harris
Evelyn at the Hairdressers/Haddon Hall Hotel/Miami Beach, FL/2000, © Naomi Harris

NP:
How did you discover photography?

NH: I wanted to be a doctor, but seeing as I flunked math I knew that this wasn’t the path to take. I decided to work on a portfolio to apply to art school as that had been the one constant in my life and I truly loved creating art. I was accepted to York University in Toronto and lived at home for the 4 years I studied my bachelor of Fine Arts. It wasn’t until I moved to New York at age 24 that I left home for the first time.

In university my major was printmaking but so much of my work was photo-based and I would appropriate other people’s photographs. I decided in my third year to take a basic photo class so I could make my own photos to use in my printmaking. On a trip to Europe that summer l I brought my camera along and upon seeing my contact sheets I decided that this was what turned me on. And the fact that I couldn’t really see myself making a career out of printmaking. I applied to the International Center of Photography for their Documentary program, and surprisingly I was accepted.

Marie and Sonja By Pool/Haddon Hall Hotel/Miami Beach, FL/2002, © Naomi Harris
Three Sisters at the Beach/ Haddon Hall Hotel/Miami Beach, FL 2000, © Naomi Harris

NP: Where do you find inspiration?

NH: I'm attracted to real people and the beauty in the everyday mundane. I tend to want to photograph people and as a curious individual who loves to ask nosey and personal questions I can get away with it if I'm actually photographing that person. Photography gives me the in to worlds I know nothing about and am not privy to. I'm lured in by the obscure and those that others don't find interesting at first glance. These are the people who I find most fascinating and seek inspiration from. I adore seeing what goes on behind closed doors and to be able to get access to really tough situations.

Broken Leg and Barbecue/Swingstock/Duxbury, MN/July 2004, © Naomi Harris

NP: How do your projects come about?

NH: My photography is certainly separate from my day-to-day life. I admire photographers who are able to shoot themselves and make dynamic pictures, if I was to turn the camera on myself I think people would get bored pretty quickly at seeing yet another photo of me watching Golden Girl reruns for the umpteenth time.

Instead I photograph things I want to learn more about and hopefully no one else has already explored. Like when I moved into the Haddon Hall Hotel in Miami Beach it was because when growing up I had a relationship with only my paternal grandmother and that was strained as she was a depressive woman. These last remaining seniors of Miami Beach became my surrogate grandparents and I their granddaughter.

Thanksgiving Dinner/Big Lake, MN/November 2004, © Naomi Harris

My America Swings project came about while living in Miami. I used to go to the nude beach but didn’t know at first that a good proportion of these nudists were also swingers. One Sunday night, shortly before I moved away from Miami in 2002, I was invited by a fellow beach goer to be his “date” and go to a swing club (single men are not allowed to attend). He knew I was a photographer and thought I would find the scene interesting. It was in a strip mall in a very commercial part of town. Non-descript, downright seedy from the outside, but inside there was a dance floor and a large buffet complete with a chef in white with a big chef’s hat carving roast beef and serving scalloped potatoes. We stuffed ourselves and then 20 minutes later went to the back room where all the sex was going on. You were not permitted to enter the back dressed; you had to change into a towel. As a nudist I was fine with that, as a young lady I felt like a piece of sirloin.

Super Bowl Party/Des Moines, IA/February 2005, © Naomi Harris

We went in the group sex room, which was more or less a row of about six mismatched beds pushed together. This was the first time I had ever seen anyone having sex in person. We stayed and watched for a couple of hours but neither of us did anything. That was the understanding; I was his guest but he had no expectations of me whatsoever. When we left I knew I had to start photographing this, because no one would believe me when I told stories of what I’d seen, like the woman at 3:00 in the morning picking food from the breakfast buffet stark naked but for heels. And I wasn’t aware of anyone who had really photographed this before.

All American Pool Party/Club CB's/Vista, CA/July 2007, © Naomi Harris

NP: Explain why you chose to make the America Swings section of your website password-protected.

NH:
It was more out of necessity than choice. I had been assigned a couple of jobs where at the last minute I was pulled off it when the powers that be got skiddish of the fact that I shoot nudity. I always thought it would be wise to show this work because a: doesn’t this show my ability to get into any situation and make people comfortable, and b: because I’m darn proud of all my hard work.

In the end I guess it is wiser to not be offensive and allow people to contact me for the password. Incidentally, if anyone reading this wants to look at this section of the website I’ll give you a hint. The password begins with the letter L, ends with the letter E and spells IFESTYL in the middle. It’s also another word used to describe swinging.

Penis Mobile/Swingstock/Duxbury, MN/July 2007, © Naomi Harris

NP: What’s next?

NH: Such a time of change! Was planning on moving to LA in the fall but just found out that I’m teaching a class at ICP in the fall (nude photography, of course) which I’m really excited about. I’ve been wanting to teach for a long time, so instead I’m sticking around NY for a little longer. Relocating to a quieter neighborhood though so purging for the move has been all encompassing.

I would love to get the Haddon Hall work published as I started the project 10 years ago in December 1999. It’s a project I hold very dear to me but put on hold during the 6 years it took to shoot and produce the swingers book.

I’m currently trying to make my first documentary film. I still love photography but often feel we are missing out by not hearing the conversations going on in these photos.

I’m also working on a new photo project called EUSA where I’m photographing American themed places in Europe and European themed places in America. I like how we interpret the others culture in such a kitschy manner. Like so many Europeans conjure thoughts of Cowboys and Indians when they think of America and we picture all Europeans in lederhosen carrying beer steins and eating brauts. The photos are more about the landscape of these places which is a big change for me.

Sleep Apnea/Swingstock/Duxbury, MN/July 2004, © Naomi Harris
Cherry Pitt/Duncanville, TX/February 2008, © Naomi Harris

To view more of Naomi's work, please head to www.naomiharris.com. Naomi's America Swings monograph is currently available in collector editions at Taschen.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Amy Stein: Seeing in Color

(via www.andersonranch.org)


© Amy Stein

Workshop @ AndersonRanch arts center

Amy Stein: Seeing in Color (P0921)
Jul 27, 2009-Jul 31, 2009

Concept: Is your photographic vision stuck in black and white? Awaken your photography and tell stories in vivid details using the language of color. In this class we will examine the expressive possibilities of color photography. Through artist presentations, field trips and interactive exercises we will explore the emotions and energy associated with color as we push the boundaries of your expression. We will explore the magnificent natural areas surrounding Anderson Ranch and work in classroom to review portfolios and the photographic products of our photo journeys.

Amy Stein is a photographer and teacher based in New York City. Her work explores our evolving isolation from community, culture and the environment. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is featured in many private and public collections such as the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Photography. In 2007, she was named one of the top 15 emerging photographers in the world by American Photo and she won the Critical Mass Book Award. A monograph of Domesticated won the best book award at the 2008 New York Photo Festival. Amy teaches photography at Parsons The New School for Design and the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She is represented by Robert Koch Gallery in San Francisco and Pool Gallery in Berlin. www.amysteinphoto.com

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

3rd Ward Open Call for Photography

3rd Ward, Williamsburg's member-based design center for creative professionals, just announced an Open Call for photography. This competition is an international search for the best new work from emerging photographers.

Winning photographers will be featured in a group exhibit with one first place award of $500 and a Third Ward Green Bike. Everyone who's selected will also written up in their quarterly publication, get a one-month basic membership with access to their four photo studios and gain citywide exposure through press about the event.

They are accepting Submissions Through July 31st, 11:59 pm.

Martina Wörz & Andrea Nehring Exhibit



Exhibition (through August 16, 2009)
If I think of you as loud as I can, can you hear me?
works by Andrea Nehring & Martina Woerz
Siegerlandmuseum
Oranienstraße 9
57072 Siegen, Germany
Hours Tue-Sun 10:00 am to 5:00 pm (free admission)
- through August 16, 2009

"Sensuality. Illusion and exposure. Sexuality. Emotion. Ambivalence and disguise. Yearning. Gender. Adolescence. Innocence. Metamorphose. Narration. Identity. Seduction. Momentariness. Beauty. Fragility. Ikons. Physicalness."

Monday, July 20, 2009

Tina Schula

Amani Olu, of the Humble Arts Foundation, interviews Tina Schula for Whitewallmag, find it at www.whitewallmag.com.

If You Are in Portland, Maine, USA

For My Beloved Sister Mia: An Album of Photographs by Julia Margaret Cameron
-through September ,2009
&
Joyce Tenneson: Polaroid Portraits
-through October 4, 2009

Both at:

Portland Museum of Art
Seven Congress Square
Portland, Maine 04101

Sunday, July 19, 2009

If You Are in New York, USA

Dutch Seen: New York Rediscovered
Museum of the City of New York
works by Rineke Dijkstra, Danielle van Ark, Erwin Olaf, Inez van Lamsweerde & Vindooh Matadin and others -- guest curated by Kathy Ryan
1220 Fifth Avenue (@103 rd Street)
NYC
-through September 13, 2009

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Summer Reading - Group Show at Jen Bekman Gallery

via Jen Bekman


This year our summer group show, Summer Reading, is united around the wonderful world of words. Jen Bekman Gallery will be showing paintings, drawings and photographs from a talented lot, some of whom you already know from their 20x200 editions.

Artists in the exhibition:

Thomas Allen, Kate Bingaman-Burt, Kotama Bouabane, Lizzie Buckmaster-Dove, Christine Callahan, Jorge Colombo, William Crump, Lauren DiCioccio, Nina Katchadourian, Gregory Krum, Steve Lambert, Michael Mandiberg, Carrie Marill, Mike Monteiro, Jane Mount, Kirby Pilcher, Jason Polan, Kent Rogowski, Ed Ruscha,Kelly Shimoda, Victor Schrager, Mickey Smith, Alec Soth, Zoe Strauss, Shaun Sundholm, Brian Ulrich, and Tim Walker.

Jen Bekman Gallery
6 Spring Street
(between Elizabeth + Bowery)
New York, New York 10012

Gallery Hours:
Wednesday – Saturday | Noon – 6pm
On View: July 15th - August 22nd, 2009

If You Are in Paris, France

ELLES@CENTREPOMPIDOU
Artistes femmes dans les collections du Centre Pompidou (works by women artists from museum's collection)
Expositions au Centre
Centre Pompidou
75191 Paris cedex 04
Phone: +33 (0)1 44 78 12 33
-through May 24, 2010

Friday, July 17, 2009

Lillian Bassman: Femininity, Salvaged

Gina Bellafante just published a comprehensive and charming profile of artist Lillian Bassman, titled "Femininity , Salvaged" , which you can find in the Art & Design Section of The New York Times or by clicking here.

If You Are in Lübeck, Germany

"Die Familie hält sich zurück" (an exhibit deconstructing & constructing the meaning of family)
Works by Peter Lütje, Heike Ollertz, Annee Olofsson, Eva von Platen, Mirja Schellbach, Corinna Schnitt, Annelies Strba, Özlem Sulak.
Overbeck-Gesellschaft
Königstraße 11
23552 Lübeck- Behnhausgarten (Germany)
-through August 16, 2009

Thursday, July 16, 2009

A Conversation with Céline Clanet

Linn, Marita and the Dog, 2008 - from "Máze" series, © Céline Clanet
Everybody's Gohati , 2005 - from "Máze" series, © Céline Clanet

Céline Clanet is one of the winners of 2008's Photolucida's Critical Mass Book Award. Her photographic work of the European Artic first introduced me to this rural part of the world. The series, "Maze" contains sincere photographs of the people, the landscape, and the emotions of the Artic. I cannot wait until Céline's book releases from Photolucida and we're so glad to have her participate in our Conversations series.

Nymphoto: Tell us a little about yourself?

Céline Clanet: I was born in ‘77 and raised in the French Alps until I was 18. I spent my childhood playing with dogs, breeding several armies of snails, ballet dancing, fighting with my older brother, and strolling endlessly in the mountain behind our house.

After some time spent in London and Arles - where I studied at the Ecole Nationale de la Photographie - I have now been living in Paris for over 10 years with my man and son.
I share my time between photography, graphic design, planning the next trip to somewhere far, trying to play music, and regularly being forced to watch hours of Peppa Pig and the UEFA Champions League.

Are watching, 2005 - from "Máze" series, © Céline Clanet
Ellen Watching through the Window, 2005 - from "Máze" series, © Céline Clanet


NP: How did you discover photography?

CC: I was about 14, and I was living with my grandmother during some painful teenage years. I was spending much time in her messy attic where there were remains of an old (very old!) photo lab, and I started to experiment B&W printing up there. By some miracle, I managed to process films and prints, and loved doing it.

One day that I was digging about up there, I discovered a little suitcase that happens to be a treasure: the oldest family pictures were in it, hundreds of them. My grandmother had been searching for it for many years, and was deeply moved and grateful to see it again. I felt like Wonder Woman (attic & suitcases section).

We spent many hours looking through the photographs together. I realized that this suitcase was our family memory indeed that those events and dead people only existed inside it and nowhere else.

Photography fascinated me. It could make things last forever and make dead people talk again. It made me understand that your life only exists because you remember it. "Each time you forget, you recall death" once wrote Maurice Blanchot... That definitely hooked the disturbed teenager in me.

The relationship between photography, identity, death and memory is something that never left my thoughts since then. It tints all my works, even if it's in a very light color sometimes.


Exhausting Migration, 2005 - from "Máze" series, © Céline Clanet
Ole Ailo relaxing on reindeer skin, 2005 - from "Máze" series, © Céline Clanet


NP: Where do you find inspiration?

CC: Anywhere, anytime.

For instance, I first fell in love with Lapland when I was 8 and watched a Japanese anime adaption of "The Wonderful Adventures of Nils Holgersson" on French television. I was already very much into Polar world, but Lapland never left my mind since that anime. The landscapes and animals looked so great. Far and different, yet on my own continent. And the goose could talk!

Waiting for Ante, 2008 - from "Máze" series, © Céline Clanet
Damned Alta Dam, 2005 - from "Máze" series, © Céline Clanet


NP: How do your projects come about?

CC: I use the photographic medium mostly as a tool and pretext to experience the world. I probably wouldn't have spent months in the Arctic if it weren’t to make pictures.
If I have fun, learn something from the pictures made, record something important, and I can create beauty in it, I go for the project. (It’s a plus when people like my work and think it's interesting. I become the happiest woman on Earth.)

The fading and fragile Sami land and community are one of the only Artic indigenous people of continental Europe and it became my obsession years ago. Most Europeans don’t even have a clue about their neighbors to the north. At that time, I was not very keen on the photography I had seen about Lapland so far. The pictures focused on costumes and traditions. Cliché photographs of the “exotic” traditions make boring pictures, wherever they are taken in the world. I wanted to show more than that.

It took me almost a couple of years to prepare my Máze project. I had already been traveling in Lapland before, but as I wanted to stay several months to start a photo project decently, it needed tough organization. I passed my driving license, bought a car, started Norwegian lessons, met ethnologists, studied Sami history more, searched for funding, spent all my money in boots and down clothes, wrote to many Sami people, and eventually found a place to stay up there, in Máze.

Then in spring 2005 I drove my car from Paris to Máze and stayed 3 months up there as a first journey.

Lucky me, I hit upon the most amazing place in whole European Arctic. Máze is beautiful, precious, unique, wild, and full of amazing people and crazy reindeer herders. Máze has a very peculiar and moving history, as it was saved from the waters of a Norwegian dam project some years ago. People's relationships with territory, animals and time is very peculiar there, and I focused pretty much on that.

Being a photographer in this village was like being a starving rabbit in a giant carrot field.
Since that first trip, I try to travel there once a year. And became a snowmobile addict.

Looking for the Lost Reindeer, 2005 - from "Máze" series, © Céline Clanet
Gathering, 2005 - from "Máze" series, © Céline Clanet
The Wedding, 2009 - from "Máze" series, © Céline Clanet

NP: What’s next?

CC: I am just back from a trip in Máze, and I'm gathering the last pictures and texts for the Critical Mass book, that will hopefully be out later in 2009. I'm preparing my first show in US, planned early 2010.

I still work on another Arctic series that explores Lapland landscape, "Sápmi". I have driven thousand of kilometers in Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian Lapland: next step will be Russian Lapland, where I have never been yet.

I've also been working since several months on a series about my home area and family in the Alps.

AND, I am searching for the great Gallery that will make me the wealthy artist I always wanted to be. Then I could buy this Ski-Doo snowmobile of my dreams and break my last speed record on Máze river, yeah!

Simun Ailo destroying a reindeer, 2009 - from "Máze" series, © Céline Clanet
Morning Sun Over Tundra, 2009 - from "Máze" series, © Céline Clanet

To see more of Céline Clanet's work, visit www.celinette.com.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Opening Tomorrow: Adriana Lopez Sanfeliu's Life on the Block at Randall Scott Gallery

Adriana Lopez Sanfeliu
Life on the Block


July 16th-August 15th

Artist's Reception
July 16th 6pm-8pm

Since April of 2002, Adriana Lopez Sanfeliu has been documenting the physical and mental boundaries of young Puerto Rican women and their families living on 103rd Street in Spanish Harlem. Her series, Life on the Block discusses how the women of these families provide an inner compass to explore the challenges of life and their quest for empowerment as well as their desire and inability to brake a cycle of mere survival.

There is a hardness that characterizes these streets, and innocence dies young. This community has a high rate of unemployment-three times the New York City average. The family income is based on public assistance and often supplemented by the underground economy of the street; the sale of drugs and other illegal activities that commonly lead to detention, prison, and death.

Fathers and brothers are often absent from the family unit. Girls reaffirm their existence through maternity and drop out of high school to become mothers at an early age. These strong young women of the block represent the potential elements of change in this society. Women are the pillars of the community. These women often choose to be somebody in their block rather than nobody in a promising new horizon. To break that lifestyle is almost a betrayal to their roots and their people. Many families in these communities live under the same values and circumstances, a pattern of existence they jokingly call "the ghetto life."

This series is an intense look at their roles as women in a machista culture, as latinas in a white society, and as mothers of the upcoming American generations.

Randall Scott Gallery
111 Front Street #204
Brooklyn, NY 11201

Opening Tonight: Eye On The Strand --Manjari Sharma & More

APERTURE FOUNDATION, PRATT, AND THE STRAND BOOK STORE ANNOUNCE WINNERS OF THE
STRAND’S FIRST EVER PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST EYE ON THE STRAND

WHEN AND WHERE:

Wednesday, July 15
Opening Reception with the Winners and Finalists
6:00 – 8:00 pm
Pratt Institute CCPS Gallery
144 West 14th Street, 2nd floor
New York, NY
212-647-7199

Aperture, Pratt, and the Strand Book Store are pleased to announce the winners of the Eye on the Strand photography contest, which kicked off last fall and concluded March 31, 2009. The winners were chosen by a prestigious panel of judges from over 500 submissions featuring unique and creative photo representations of the Strand Book Store. The Grand Prize Winner will get to have lunch at New York City’s famous Balthazar Restaurant with world-renowned photographer Mary Ellen Mark, and receive a collection of Aperture books, among other prizes.

The work of the grand prize, second and third place winners and twenty finalists will be featured in a special exhibition to open at the Pratt Institute CCPS Gallery on July 16, 2009. An opening reception will take place Wednesday, July 15 from 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. To read about contest details, including prizes awarded, and to view the winning images, please visit The Strand’s online photography gallery at www.eyeonthestrand.com.

Grand Prize Photo Winner: Josh Robinson/“Strand Shadows”
A native of St. Louis, Mo., Josh is currently a graduate student in NYU’s Graphic Communications Management and Technology program. Previously, he was a two-time Emmy Award winning television news producer, and most recently a features producer for AOL. He lives in Manhattan with his wife Claire.

Second Place Photo: Cary Conover/“Upside Down”
A freelance photographer based in New York City, Cary is a regular contributor to The Village Voice and The New York Times, among other publications. Cary’s black and white documentary street photography celebrates New York City. A native of Wichita, Kansas, Cary lives on the Lower East Side with his wife, Yvonne.

Third Place Photo and Viewers’ Choice Winner: Manjari Sharma/”Strand, The dreamer’s land”
A native of Mumbai, India, Manjari graduated from the Columbus College of Art and Design in 2004, and is currently a freelance photographer living in New York City. In India, she photographed for The Times Of India and Better Photograph. In the U.S., her clients include AOL, American baby and Penguin Books. Manjari received eight honorable mentions in the IPA Lucie Awards 2008.

Tonight: NIGHT/SHIFT Talk & Booksigning in Tribeca


courtesy Lynn Saville

Also if you would like to revisit our conversation with Lynn Saville, please click here.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Happy Bastille Day


for the telegraph © Catherine Servel

On the occasion of Bastille Day some links to recent work by French fashion photographer Catherine Servel: www.telegraph.co.uk & French fine art photographer Céline Clanet: www.lostateminor.com.

Monday, July 13, 2009

Beatrix Reinhardt on [EV +/-] Exposure Compensation

Head over to [EV +/-] Exposure Compensation for to see some new work by Beatrix Reinhardt who was featured in the latest Nymphoto Exhibit and who will be featured in our NymphotoConversations soon.

Life Aquatic

Why limit your shooting to land? Liquid Image's Underwater Digital Camera Masks take underwater photography to the next level. Available in 3 different types: The Swim Video Mask - $100 (640x480 video resolution), Dive Video Mask $160 (720x480 video resolution) and Scuba Video Mask - $250 (720p HD video). The masks come with 5 megapixel cameras, except for the Swim Video Mask that has 3.1 megapixels.

Available for purchase at: Helmet Camera Central.

Opening Thursday: Lovisa Ringborg


courtesy HSF/©Lovisa Ringborg

Please join us at Harlem Studio Fellowship for the opening of a double solo exhibition of artists-in-residence, Lovisa Ringborg and Elena Ascari. Co-curated by HSF Chief Curator, Raffaele Bedarida with newly appointed Junior Curator, Teresa Meucci, the show presents works achieved by the two artists during their stay in New York (May-July-2009).


- LOVISA RINGBORG
if your secret was an animal
what animal would it be

- ELENA ASCARI
Cells

Curated by: Raffaele Bedarida and Teresa Meucci

Opening reception: July 16th 6.30-9.00 pm

By appointment:
July 17th-31st, 2009


HSF by Montrasioarte
128W 121st street
(subway 2, 3 to 116th street)
New York, NY



LOVISA RINGBORG
if your secret was an animal
what animal would it be

Swedish artist Lovisa Ringborg exhibits at HSF two interrelated works. A photograph, Insomnia is the visual and conceptual counterpart of an environmental piece, If Your Secret Was an Animal What Animal Would It Be, which consists of four photographs and a mirror text. More than doing photographs, Ringborg literally works with photography: her initial photographic shots, used as “raw material” (the artist’s words), are digitally altered and combined into carefully composed and theatrically staged images. As with Caravaggio (a rough mattress hardly visible under classical draperies), the fictionality of the represented scene is revealed in her work, and the masquerade in the artist’s studio emerges interfering with the subject matter. Subtle visual inconsistencies insinuate unreliability in the faux staged-photographs and add surreal echoes to their content. But there is no attempt on shocking effects: no juxtaposition of evidently incongruous images and meanings. If the sleep of Goya’s reason produced monsters, the inoffensive stuffed animals that Ringborg photographed at the Museum of Natural History, are turned into the elementary vocabulary of a potentially monstrous language. A language from which narrative is removed and humans, beasts, and objects are kept frozen on the threshold between familiar anxieties and uncanny premonitions. RB


ELENA ASCARI
Cells

The series of paintings presented by Italian artist Elena Ascari starts a new phase in her visual research. Ascari’s previous canvases portrayed the reflecting world of the malls’ escalators through a photorealist technique. The shiny world of glasses and mirrors was turned into a no-less-kitschy surface of gummy paint. The effect was one of complex visual fragmentation: repetitions, reflections, and distortions of the same figures resulted in an optical multiplication that could be read as an open sequence, a deconstructed story. With Cells, Ascari does a step further. Focused on the refracting skin of design objects, these new reflections destroy any perceptive continuity. An ordinary experience given by the popularization and domestication of Deconstructivist architecture is translated into a trope: close-up views become miniaturized oneiric visions. In the resulting kaleidoscope, humans as well as any other recognizable thing are fugacious and isolated apparitions. The story no longer exists, connections are lost. The aesthetic of very small reflective surfaces become, with Cells, a metaphor for the connective isolation of the i-phone era. RB

If You Are in Beijing, China

(from China Daily)

An ongoing photo and video portrait exhibition at Beijing's Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA), Isabelle Huppert: Woman of Many Faces, shows the French actress and jury leader of the 62nd Cannes film festival caught on film by about 100 leading international photographers, including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Willy Ronis, Nan Goldin, Juergen Teller, Wen Fang and Helmut Newton.

-through July 19, 2009

Sunday, July 12, 2009

New Book & Tea Shop in Beirut: Paper Cup

Rania Nafal, a graduate of NYU & Stanford, recently opened a niche store in an industrial aera of Beirut. The shop serves tea & sells magazines & art books with works by Nan Goldin, Peter Beard and others. Read more about this store in the Daily Star Lebanon, in an article written by Stephen Dockery, by clicking here.

Paper Cup is located in the Hagopian building on Pharaoh Street in Mar Mikhael, Beirut.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Les Recontres d'Arles - 40 years

Les Recontres d'Arles
40 years - 60 exhibits, including a special presentation of work by Nan Goldin
Arles, France
-through September 13, 2009

Read Drusilla Beyfus article for the Telegraph "Nan Goldin: unafraid of the dark".

Friday, July 10, 2009

Nooderlicht : Summer of Love

(via Noorderlicht.com)

NOORDERLICHT PHOTOGALLERY
Summer of Love
11 July through 23 August
Opening Friday 10 July, at 5:00 in the Noorderlicht Photogallery. Yevgeny Kondakov will be present.

This summer the Noorderlicht Photogallery brings you Summer of Love, a blistering exhibition in which four photographers take up sexual freedom and illusions.

Emmanuel Guillaud (France, b. 1970) roamed through Tokyo at night. Until the Sun Rises is his new installation about loneliness, about men who wander through parking lots and and school yards: public places which by night change into a temporary ghetto. They hope for chance encounters, are ‘in search of a kick without obligations’, or actually of intimacy… When the sun comes up they leave again, preferring to forget what has happened. The installation Until the Sun Rises is being shown for the first time by Noorderlicht.

Katharina Hesse (Germany, b. 1966) in Human Negotiations, gives us a different picture of the prostitution industry in Bangkok, Thailand. She followed a number of women and interviewed them extensively about their lives and their background, their choices and their motives. It appeared very much the question whether our Western image – women as powerless victims of the Eastern sex industry – can be maintained. Hesse dares to oppose the stereotype of sexual slavery with an intimate, and at the very least ambiguous picture of ordinary women who make a better life possible for themselves and their children by selling dreams.

Yevgeny Kondakov (Russia, b. 1961) asked himself the question: what happens when the most repressed country in the world is exposed to mass-market consumerism and a government that does not care what ordinary people do? In Russian Sexual Revolution he demonstrates that not only an economic and political revolution took place in the former Soviet Union, but also a sexual revolution: in all its wildness, its strangeness, its vulgarity, and its innocence.

Amy Touchette (USA, b. 1970), in The World Famous *BOB*, documents the life of a ‘burlesque dancer’ in New York. ‘Bob’, the male drag queen whose identity she assumes, lived an eccentric but destructive life in San Francisco. Awakening from the nightmare that her existence was, she gave herself a second chance in New York. There she could finally indulge in her fantasy: being a star.

Summer of Love is curated by Wim Melis.

Noorderlicht Photogallery: Akerkhof 12 in Groningen, The Netherlands
Contact: Olaf Veenstra - olaf@noorderlicht.com / +31 (0)50 318 22 27
Opening hours: Wednesday through Sunday, Noon - 6:00 p.m.
Free admittance
Wed thru Sun 12-6pm
admission free